The present invention relates to a storytelling system and, more particularly, to a system in which dolls, depicting characters in the story, either light up at appropriate times during narration of the story, or themselves broadcast parts of the audio track of the story.
Extant audio storytelling systems are characterized by either extreme simplicity or a certain degree of complexity. At one end of the spectrum, there are audio cassette players, and variations thereof. At the other end, there are systems of talking dolls of varying degrees of complexity. Talking dolls have been elaborated in one of two ways. The first, more common way has been to animate the dolls, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,341 of DeSmet. The second has been to provide systems of dolls that interact intelligently, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,840,602 and 4,857,030 of Rose. Each of Rose""s dolls is a miniature robot, equipped with a central processing unit, a read only memory for vocabulary, and a speech synthesizer. Each doll is capable of initiating and maintaining a simulated conversation with the other dolls of the system. Rose justifies the complexity of his system as being necessary to maintain the interest of young children, and cites a study by xe2x80x9ca child development specialist in the Pediatrics Department of a West Coast hospitalxe2x80x9d in support of his thesis. In that study, young children were found to become quickly bored with the limited repertoire of non-interactive talking dolls.
Neither animation nor interactivity is necessary to maintain the interest of young children. For ages, mothers and teachers have held the interest of children with classical fairy tales, with no need for technological gimmicks. It is also common experience that a child""s interest in a story can be enhanced by means of static dolls, serving as a trigger to the child""s imagination. Indeed, the mere suggestion, to a listening child, as to which static doll is being referred to by the narrator of a story is often ample stimulation of the child""s imagination. Furthermore, the more elaborate prior art systems tend to be priced beyond the limited means of many young families. There is thus a widely recognized need for, and it would be highly advantageous to have, a storytelling system in which the story is narrated, at least in part, by talking dolls of less complexity and cost than those of the prior art, or in which a visible indication is given as to which static doll is being referred to by the narrator during the course of a story.
According to the present invention there is provided a storytelling system including: (a) a data storage medium, whereon is stored a plurality of blocks of audio data, each of the blocks of audio data being flagged with an identification code; (b) a transmission mechanism for transmitting the blocks of audio data; (c) at least one remote unit, featuring a mechanism for receiving the transmitted blocks of audio data and broadcasting the blocks of audio data as audible sound; and (d) a selection mechanism for selecting one of the at least one remote unit to broadcast at least one of the blocks of audio data, in accordance with the identification code.
According to the present invention there is provided a storytelling system including: (a) a data storage medium, whereon is stored a plurality of blocks of audio data, each of the blocks of audio data being flagged with an identification code; (b) a transmission mechanism for transmitting the identification codes; (c) at least one remote unit, featuring an illuminator operative to illuminate the remote unit, and featuring a mechanism for receiving the transmitted identification code and operating the illuminator; and (d) a selection mechanism for selecting one of the at least one remote unit to operate the illuminator, in accordance with the identification code.
The present invention includes a base unit that broadcasts at least part of a recording of a story via its own audio speaker, and transmits the rest of the story to remote units shaped like characters of the story. The remote units take turns broadcasting their own parts of the story via their own audio speakers. Typically, the base unit recites narrative, and each remote unit recites dialog corresponding to the character that it represents. The remote units also can broadcast together, for example, in pairs. In an alternative embodiment, the base unit recites the entire story line (including all dialog), and each remote unit lights up whenever dialog relevant to it""s character is being broadcast by the base unit. In a variant of the first embodiment, the remote units also light up while reciting their own dialog.
All that is needed to maintain the continued interest of young children in an inanimate storytelling system is a good story, such as one of the classical fairy tales, and an array of visually appealing dolls that either recite the stored dialog of the story themselves, or light up whenever their dialog is being recited. Unlike the more elaborate prior art systems, the present invention stores the audio data only at the base unit. The dolls serve only as audio broadcasters, or as silent, symbolic, characters in the story. This makes the present invention simpler, more flexible and less expensive than the prior art systems.
According to the present invention, the base unit transmits the dolls"" part of the story, or an instruction to light up, to the remote units via a suitable transmission medium such as ultrasound, radio waves, infrared waves, or electrical impulses transmitted along wires connecting the base unit to the remote units.
Another feature of the present invention is that in its preferred embodiment, the outward appearances of the remote units are matched to the story. Each remote unit of a system according to the present invention has a unique identifying feature, such as a colored patch or a shape. The unit is paired with a doll that has a matching identifying feature. For example, each remote unit may have a unique shape, such as a cylinder of a particular (circular, polygonal, etc.) exterior cross section. To the unit is fitted a doll whose interior cross section matches that exterior cross section. The doll may be shaped to fit over the corresponding remote unit, or the remote unit may be shaped to fit in the back of the corresponding doll. In this way, different stories can be told using the same remote units but different, relatively inexpensive dolls. For example, a system with four remote units, of circular, square, rectangular, and triangular cross section, can be used to tell the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears using a Goldilocks doll with a circular interior cross section, a Papa Bear doll with a square interior cross section, a Mama Bear doll with a rectangular interior cross section, and a Baby Bear doll with a triangular interior cross section, and then used to tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood using a Little Red Riding Hood doll with a circular interior cross section, a Wolf doll with a square interior cross section, a Grandmother doll with a rectangular interior cross section, and a Huntsman doll with a triangular cross section.